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We had some slightly disappointing news this past Friday. Due to some last-minute issues with our experimental license from the FCC, we were unable to make our integration deadline for the OA-5 launch. We are currently working with the FCC to get things cleared up. Thankfully, NASA's Launch Services Program continues to be hugely supportive of KickSat and has assured us that we will be able to fly on the next available launch once our FCC license is in place.

I will do my best to post some more in-depth updates here this summer. In the mean time, you can also follow me on Twitter and keep an eye on our progress on GitHub. As always, thank you for your support.

Wow - it's been almost a year since I last posted an update here, and a lot has happened! KickSat-2 is has been completed and is awaiting a launch on the Orbital Sciences OA-5 mission. Two weeks ago we performed vibration testing with NanoRacks, who is our launch integration provider. Here I am in the cleanroom at Cornell getting the satellite ready:

In two more weeks I'll be traveling to Huston to deliver KickSat-2. It will then be mounted in a deployer pod like the one on the left in the picture above and taken to NASA's Wallops FlightFacility, where it will be loaded into the Cygnus capsule along with other cargo and experiments destined for the International Space Station. If all goes well, OA-5 will launch on July 6 and arrive at the ISS a few days later. KickSat-2 will likely be deployed from the ISS after a few weeks.

I'll be posting here more as we get closer to launch. In the mean time, you can get more frequent updates by following me on Twitter. You can also get the latest information on our launch from Spaceflight Now. As always, don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

I apologize for not keeping you all in the loop for the past few months. I assure you we're keeping very busy getting KickSat-2 ready for launch. I don't have a new launch date to announce yet, but I'll post one as soon as it gets ironed out. In the mean time, here's a quick video of a test we did this week of the newly fabricated deployment mechanism for KickSat-2. The basic idea hasn't changed from KickSat-1, but several refinements have been made in this new version.

If you want to make sure you're getting all the latest KickSat news in between posts here, you can also subscribe to my twitter feed @zacinaction.

KickSat will fly again! I was just notified that KickSat-2 has been selected for a launch by NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative. You can read more about it on NASA's website. In addition to KickSat-2, thirteen other CubeSat teams were selected from all over the U.S.

We don't yet know when our launch will be, but I will be sure to keep you updated. Thanks again to all of you for your support over the past three years.

My name is Marc Choueiri and I am one of KickSat’s newest members. This is my first blog post and although I can’t entice you with the same technical details as Zac, I can tell you a little about myself, what I do for the project and why I love working for KickSat.

A born and raised New Yorker, I followed in my father’s footsteps coming to Cornell to pursue mechanical engineering. I joined KickSat this past summer and have stayed on the team for the academic year. I am part of the project’s mechanical team and am responsible for all mechanical components of KickSat.

Recently, my main focus has been working on KickSat’s deployment system for Sprites. For those of you who are unfamiliar with ‘KickSat’ terminology, Sprites are the femtosatellites we expect to deploy in low Earth orbit. They are 3.5cm x 3.5 cm x 2mm circuit boards with sensors, solar panels, a radio and an antenna.
I have been improving the design of the deployment system and building two new iterations for our planned future launches. The system consists of several aluminum deployer pieces tensioned with springs and held in place by a locking mechanism. When the satellite is at the proper altitude, a burn wire is activated that releases the locking mechanism. The Sprites, whose antennas double as deployment springs, are released into orbit at an altitude of around 300 km. See the pictures and video below to get an idea of how the deployment system works:

I enjoy studying mechanical engineering but most of the work we do is theoretical and not hands-on. That is one reason I am grateful to be part of this project. I work with the worlds' smallest satellites and something I help build with my own hands will be soon be in space. KickSat has given my colleagues and me a unique opportunity that not many other engineers at Cornell get to experience. Most importantly, the work we do also has direct application to life outside the classroom.

A question I get a lot is what is KickSat's ultimate goal? When can it be determined the project was successful? Although I can't speak for Zac, I say one of the two milestones that will signal to me the full accomplishment of the KickSat mission is to have Sprites deployed (by anyone) into another planet’s atmosphere. The concept is very inexpensive and would be ideal for studying other planets. It would be unfortunate to see KickSat have the same fate as most research projects and end up on the shelf. The other milestone would be to see crowd-funded space exploration projects being done on a mass scale. KickSat is a leader in inexpensive space exploration so hopefully it will pave the way for many other future projects. With those two things accomplished, I will be fully content with how far KickSat has come.

We know so little about space so hopefully the technological innovations from the KickSat project will help us change that. It's not on the same scale as the Curiosity Rover or MAVEN but certainly a step in the right direction.